The Judgment of Sunnydale
by Ghixx
Summary: The newfound Slayer Army encounters the latest Big Bads to enter their territory. Much delayed fifth chapter finally added.
1. Chapter 1

Summary: The newfound Slayer Army (post season 7) encounters the latest big bads (characters of my own creation) to enter their territory.

Content Warning: I try to keep language fairly tame, but the content itself is more teen/adult.

Disclaimer: I do not own any established BtVS characters or concepts.

The Judgment of Sunnydale 

Chapter 1

On a bright, sunny day in California, a small flash of white light suddenly appeared in a back alley. The white flash disappeared as quickly as it appeared, and two figures were standing in place of the phenomena. A man in his twenties was standing next to slender Japanese girl of roughly the same age. The man had a thin build, shoulder length black hair, black sunglasses, and he was dressed entirely in black with a form fitting, stylized, high collared leather trench coat. The Japanese girl was also dressed entirely in black, with leather gloves, straight hair past her shoulders, and a similar form fitting, high collared trench coat that split at the left and right sides of her waist to reveal a short skirt and knee high boots.

"Akumi…what did you do?!" the man scolded his female companion. He looked around as if he saw something he didn't like.

"I teleported us to Los Angeles, just like you said to do!" Akumi snapped back.

"Don't you feel it? Something is …off" the man replied as he continued to look around at his new surroundings.

Akumi paused, taking a moment to scan her area. "Yes, I see what you mean now. It does feel odd here, like something is missing, almost."

"And you just tried to teleport us to LA. That was it, right?" the man asked again.

Akumi responded calmly "I… usually am very focused when I teleport us. But a stray thought came to me just before we disappeared. This thought was fleeting, but I was briefly reminded of my time before I met you. Then we reappeared here. I swear to you, Judge, I speak the truth."

The Judge spoke with a hint of curiosity. "Interesting, let's take a look around. I hear enough commotion, so there are people here. I don't remember passing through here before, but I find it hard to believe that anyone could be left that's this clueless."

As the Judge and Akumi proceeded to walk out of the alleyway, a dirty old man stumbled into view from around the corner of building a block away. The old man had clearly been homeless for some time, and judging by the brown bag clenched in his right hand, he was celebrating something early in the day.

The man smiled as he looked to the Judge and Akumi. "Hey! You kids shouldn't be here! It's dangerous 'round these parts!" he yelled.

The Judge sighed heavily as he began to raise his right arm towards the homeless man. As small white plumes of energy began to rise from behind the Judge's sunglasses, he then opened his hand as if to grab the man. Suddenly, the old man jerked, dropping the bag in his right hand as his left hand started to make its way to his neck. The Judge then closed his fist as he turned his hand at the wrist so his palm faced upwards. In time with the motion of the Judge's hand, the old man's neck quickly turned one hundred and eighty degrees with an audible crack. As the Judge lowered his arm to his side, the old man slumped to the ground.

"Hmmm… that was odd." The Judge spoke as he continued to walk out of the alley. The white energy still trickled upwards from behind his sunglasses.

"What do you mean?" Akumi asked as she was still trying to take in the local scenery.

"Mainly, encountering a random waste of flesh like that. But it was also almost difficult to snap his neck. It hasn't been that straining to use my telekinesis since the beginning." The Judge stopped, and folded his arms across his chest. The energy emanating from his eyes flared briefly, but nothing else happened. "I… can't… Akumi! Something's wrong. Try to teleport something big, doesn't matter what!"

Akumi quickly looked around, and stopped when she saw a city municipal truck across the street. She stared intently at the truck, and then disappeared in white flash and reappeared instantaneously next to the truck in another flash. While standing next to the massive truck, Akumi held out her left hand to touch the truck with her outstretched fingertips. Akumi held the pose for a few moments then promptly lowered her head in disgust. She then turned around towards the Judge, and merely walked back to him. Her frustration was clear on her face as her hands came up from her sides to emphasize her dismay.

Akumi cursed softly in Japanese, and then looked to the Judge. "Now that I finally try to use my power to its full extent, I feel weak. Like I was before" Akumi tried to hide her revulsion at the idea. "I can still use my power, just not as effective. I can feel my strength returning as we speak, but it will take some time before I can attempt to teleport us again."

The Judge's eyebrows peaked from behind the white energy that was now constantly flowing from his eyes. His concern at their situation was starting to show. "I'm having the same problem, but I should still be more than strong enough to keep working. Let's see what the deal is here, but keep things low-key for now. I don't think I can hold off a barrage of gunfire just yet."

Akumi finally smiled. "Agreed. As always, cleansing the gene-pool will make me feel better."

The Judge and Akumi finally emerged from the alleyway, made it to the street, and began their way down the sidewalk. Just ahead, groups of people were going about their daily life in a downtown shopping area.

"Something is definitely wrong here." The Judge whispered. "There is no way these people could have re-built this fast. Never-mind that they act is if they haven't a care in the world about the war right outside their door. "

"Um, that's not the only thing." Akumi said as she pointed to a nearby newspaper that was on the ground several feet away. Akumi quickly disappeared from her standing position and reappeared over the newspaper in a crouching position. She picked up the newspaper, and then teleported back next to the Judge, handing the paper to him.

"Now what?" the Judge asked, surprised.

"This paper is current, just out yesterday. Do you notice anything missing?" Akumi responded as she started to point to a few articles. "There is no mention of the Culling."

The Judge grabbed the paper. "Let me see that. This has to be some kind of joke." The Judge scanned the articles. "A local High School has been rebuilt, but that seems to be the result of some local accident. There's nothing here. Nothing! This is insane, it's like you teleported us to another dimension."

Akumi thought for a moment. "You know, that is possible, I have heard of such theories. I have never tested the full limits of my power, but maybe the sudden distraction triggered …something… to send us here. When I regain my full strength, I will try to send us back."

"Sound plan, but now I'm curious. Let's see what it's like here. Who knows, maybe it's not so bad" Akumi was surprised, the Judge sounded almost excited.

"You're planning something, aren't you?" Akumi thought about a world devoid of the death and destruction they had wrought. Things were so very different where they were from compared to this sunny town.

"Only if it's necessary. Besides, we're only trying to make the world a better place, aren't we?" The Judge could barely hold back his excitement. "Maybe things are different here?"

Akumi smiled. "Possibly, but I would not get your hopes up."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

A blonde haired teenaged girl in her late teens, dressed in fashionable clothes that had been put through more wear and tear than they were ever intended to be, ran to the front door of the sizable but still worn down house with a file folder in hand. After opening the door and brushing past several other girls in the house of similar age and in similar states of worn clothing, the blonde made her way to a back room with an older brunette girl sitting behind a hap-hazard desk covered with various maps. The brunette looked up at the new arrival.

"Here are the reports you were looking for, Kennedy." The blonde girl started to gasp for breath now that she finally stopped. She handed the folder over to Kennedy and barely hid her smile at accomplishing her task.

"Thanks Juliya." Kennedy responded as she took the file and opened it. "Every bit of intel we have on them is here?"

"Yes. Leanne and Lucy were scouting the new arrivals. The blurred pictures are Lucy's. She still has trouble with a digital camera, but there should be more than enough." Juliya chuckled. "It's not like the Matrix rejects don't stick out like sore thumbs anyway."

"We need to get as much valuable information to Willow and her group as we can." Kennedy held up a partially blurred picture and then squinted as she turned the picture upside down to try and figure out what it was. "They still haven't done anything?"

"Nothing that we've seen. We don't know exactly when they appeared, but we've been tailing them for a few days-" Juliya stopped in mid-report as she noticed an older blonde girl walking into the room. The older blonde was flanked by a red-headed girl of roughly the same age, and a taller, black haired man with an eye-patch over his left eye.

The older blonde girl spoke. "That'll be all, Juliya. You guys did great." Juliya let out a muffled squeal of delight.

"EW! They've been wearing the same clothes for HOW many days now?!" Kennedy suddenly blurted as she tried to quickly scan the remainder of the reports.

"A-at least three days." Juliya replied, wincing at the thought. "B-but they've been lying low for the most part. As far as Leanne and Lucy can tell, they're either trying to sight-see without being seen, or they're looking for someone they can't find"

"We'll take a good look at the books, and see if they match up to any known demon forms, and go from there. We want to be prepared here." The blonde spoke again, accustomed to authority.

"Right. And we'll look up this thing with the guy's eyes too. Can I see one of the pictures please?" The redhead spoke as she walked towards Kennedy. In turn, Kennedy handed her a remarkably clear picture of the Judge's face. The white energy that flowed from the Judge's eyes was a prominent feature in the photograph. The redhead's eyes widened with curiosity as she looked at the picture. "Wow, you guys weren't kidding when you said his eyes glowed all edgey-like. Are they always like this?"

"Yes, as far as we can tell, Willow." Juliya replied. "Lucy thinks that's why they've stayed hidden. Leanne says it's hard to notice in the sunlight anyway, but that's the other thing-" Juliya tried to hide a sudden look of horror as she almost forgot what she was told was a very important piece of information. "They haven't stopped for the three days we've been watching them. They've been consistently active in one way or another since Lucy and Leanne found them. But they haven't eaten anything either."

"Really?!" Willow's eyes had gotten even wider with her childlike curiosity on the matter. "Sounds almost like a Rukkan demon, or an Acolyte of Yhrathimus. I remember reading about a containment spell for those-"

"Get on it then, Willow. Never hurts to pack a spell just in case, and I think it's time we finally introduce ourselves to these two, before they do anything they'll regret." The blonde girl was getting ready to rally her troops.

"Buffy's right. We've been lucky so far that they haven't done any damage," the lone man in the room finally spoke up. "Let's hope it stays that way."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The Judge and Akumi were walking along at night, just outside of a large local cemetery. The Judge was clearly frustrated at their situation. "This is just keeps getting weirder and weirder. It's like there's a haze over everyone that's blocking me. I can't read –anyone- here like I normally can."

"These people, they seem to be good enough. Oblivious, but still better than what we've encountered before." Akumi was equally annoyed and intrigued. A sudden muffled yell from inside the cemetery got her attention. "Wait, did you hear that?!"

"Yeah, I did. Let's take a look." Akumi disappeared, and reappeared on the other side of the shoulder high cemetery fencing, prompting a sigh from the Judge. "Cute. I still can't fly, you know. I'll find a gate and meet you there."

A few moments later, the Judge found the gate in question, and instinctively reached to open it. As he touched the gate, it swung open on well oiled hinges. "Odd," the Judge remarked as he walked past the open gateway to meet with Akumi "an open gate at this time of night?"

"The sound came from a tomb over there." Akumi pointed to a mausoleum in the distance deep in the cemetery. "Perhaps the intruders were not concerned with covering their tracks?"

"Could be. Let's go. Remember to be careful, we still don't know what we could be up against." the Judge warned as Akumi disappeared in another flash and he ran towards the mausoleum in the distance

The Judge and Akumi stopped when they came to the open doorway of the large structure. Voices could clearly be heard from inside, and the white energy began to trickle upwards from the Judge's eyes as he stopped to listen.

"Vampires?! You've got to be kidding!" The Judge couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"And talk of sacrifice! We must hurry! They have a captive!" Akumi suddenly disappeared in a white flash of light.

The Judge followed Akumi into the tomb, and promptly stopped in his tracks when he realized what he stumbled into. Two well built men, both clad in billowing maroon robes with hoods pulled up over their faces, were standing on each side of a large stone table. A blonde girl in her lower twenties, wearing dirty yet fashionable clothing, was lying on her back on the table. The man to the left of the girl held a large, ornate knife in his right hand, and the other man was holding the girl down by her shoulders. A white cloth gag was stuffed in the girl's mouth, her wrists were bound behind her back, and her ankles were tied together with rope. The Judge was even more surprised to see how angrily the men looked at him.

"Intruders!" the man with the knife yelled. "The Slayer's minions have found us!"

"Slayers?!" the Judge mumbled to himself. The robed man who was holding the girl down charged the Judge as the girl on the table let out a muffled scream. Before the robed man could take his third step, the Judge held out his right hand, with his fingers outstretched towards the man, and stopped him in place with his telekinesis as the man let out a surprised grunt. Akumi reappeared clutching onto the back of the man with the knife. She quickly grabbed his head on both sides with her hands, and disappeared again, taking the head with her but leaving the body to slump to the floor. Akumi, without the head, appeared in another flash near the girl and tried to remove her gag. "It's okay, you're free to go. We'll deal with this …thing." The Judge could barely hold back the anger in his voice as the girl hastily removed the last of the ropes around her wrists and ankles and ran off. "Now then…" the Judge turned to his captive as he lifted him in the air with his telekinesis "what to do with you?"

"You may have delayed the summoning," he growled, "but your magic won't save you from him."

"I have no idea what you're talking about, you sick freak." the Judge responded angrily. "And I don't care about your boogeyman either. You, on the other hand, are not going to leave this room alive."

"HA! You fool! You think death can stop us?" the robed man was smiling.

"It works wonders where I come from." The Judge answered flatly as the white energy emanating from his eyes began to flow higher.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"Put him down, Neo."

The Judge turned around to face the new arrival while still holding out his right hand to telekinetically grab the robed man. "What was that? You're talking to me?"

"Yeah, you, who else around here looks like a reject from the Matrix?" Buffy quickly replied.

"The Matrix? Where's that?" The Judge asked, honestly confused.

"The movie with Kea- Oh never mind. Just put the guy down!" Buffy was getting annoyed.

"No. This man deserves to die." There was a hint of amusement in the Judge's voice.

"No, he doesn't. Around here we bludgeon the badguys and hope they don't learn their lesson so we can bludgeon them again. Unless said badguys are vampires, of course. Or demons. Look, I'm not in the mood for this. You're new in town, and you apparently don't know who I am. I'm Buffy." She countered. The demon seemed talkative, but reminding loners of who she was tended to be a surefire tactic to get them to do what she wanted.

"How quaint," the Judge laughed. "Is your sister Muffy?" He chuckled again at Buffy's angry reaction. "Well, Buffy, where I come from they call me the Judge-"

"-The Judge, huh? We ran into another Judge a few years ago; big guy, blue skin, blew him up with a rocket launcher." The Judge was thrown off by the comment. "He looked scarier than you. You're a better dresser though."

"I have no idea what you're talking about, lady. Now do you mind? I still have business to attend to here." The Judge looked back to the robed man who was still frozen in mid-air. Akumi slipped into a defensive stance, never taking her eyes off of Buffy.

"HEY! Put. Him. Down!" So much for talking him out of it, this new Judge character was definitely arrogant for a demon in her territory.

"And I told you. No. You really think you're going to stop me?" The Judge looked back to Buffy, the white energy from his eyes flowing a little higher.

"She might not be able to, but we can." Kennedy spoke up as she entered the room with the cavalry. Buffy was now flanked by Kennedy on her left and Juliya on her right. Willow, with a large, brown leather bound book clutched to her chest, and the man with the eye-patch were several steps behind them.

"Enough of this," the Judge said angrily as he whipped his right arm towards the far wall of the mausoleum, sending the robed man flying towards the wall. The man hit the wall hard with his shoulder, and promptly dropped to the floor, unconscious. Kennedy then charged the Judge, and Akumi disappeared in response, reappearing clutched to Kennedy's back. As Kennedy stumbled to try and keep her balance, Akumi and Kennedy both disappeared in a white flash of light.

"What did you do to her?!" Willow yelled as she opened her book and began to chant in Latin. Hopefully the containment spell she picked would work; they just needed to stall the Judge and the girl long enough for Willow to cast the spell. They also agreed to try and avoid a fight for as long as they could, too.

"So much for that plan," Buffy mumbled as she gave a quick look to Juliya, and the two Slayers charged the Judge, Buffy on his left, Juliya to the right. The energy emanating from the Judge's eye's flowed even higher as he stepped back and took a defensive position with his arms. Buffy couldn't identify the Judge's posture as any fighting style she knew, but better to knock him out now before things got any more out of hand. She reached the Judge before Juliya, and delivered a swift kick that should have made contact with the Judge's ribs, but it felt as if she was kicking a wall a foot in front of the Judge, not human flesh. Buffy glanced over to Juliya, who seemed equally surprised by the similar results of a punch she tried to throw. "Willow! He's got some kind of wall up in front of him!"

"Got it! It's not a spell, it's telekinetic!" Willow looked up from her book, and her eyes were now black pits. So this Judge was a witch? Er, warlock? Buffy tried to think of the proper term for a male magic user between each of her punches and kicks that hit the same invisible barrier. At least her attacks, combined with Juliya's, were keeping the Judge on the defensive. The Judge barely changed his positioning to match their assault, but his invisible barrier was still there, and it also seemed to stretch around him, as Buffy discovered when she tried to circle around and kick the Judge at his left. Suddenly, the energy flowing from the Judge's eyes spiked above his head, and right after the energy burst, the Judge made a thrust with his right hand towards Juliya, sending her flying back towards a wall of the building.

"Y-you, you're not human!" The Judge blurted as Buffy could feel the wall weakening under her attacks.

"I like to think of it-" Buffy threw another kick and almost felt the wall give "-as Super-human." Buffy smiled as the Judge's anger was finally starting to show on his face. Good, when they get angry, they get sloppy. "Does wonders for the empowerment thing that way." Then the energy flowing from the Judge's eyes spiked again, twice as high this time as when he attacked Juliya. And next thing Buffy knew, she could feel her head slam into a stone wall behind her. Buffy quickly looked around, and saw Juliya slowly getting to her feet. She glanced over and saw Xander and Willow both lying on the ground several feet back from where they were, unconscious. That must have been some kind of area attack. Not good. And the Judge was still standing, with the white energy flowing high above his forehead.

"Armies can't stop me. No way a bunch of misfit -whatever you people are- are going to-" out of nowhere, the Judge was cut off by a cold female voice speaking in a language Buffy didn't recognize. It sounded like a demon tongue, but which one? She guessed by his surprised reaction, the source of the voice was no friend of the Judge's. Moments after the voice started, it stopped, and then she could hear footsteps. As Buffy made it to her feet, she heard a loud thud, and quickly looked over to where the Judge was previously standing to see him lying unconscious on the floor. Oh-kay.

Then the footsteps started again, and the source of the demony language emerged from the entrance. Now Buffy could see that it was a pale, slim woman with straight blue-tinted shoulder-length hair wearing what looked like full-body tight red leather armor. The woman-in-red also had something big slung over her far shoulder. Moments after the red woman appeared, Kennedy slowly walked in from the same doorway following behind her. It was then that Buffy noticed the thing slung over the red woman's shoulder was the body of the Japanese girl who was with the Judge. Was she knocked out too? Wonder what happened to her? Without warning, the red woman looked to Buffy with sharp yet indifferent bright blue eyes and spoke with that same cold voice. "You have encountered a far greater threat than you know, young one."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Later that night, the Slayers were regrouping in the basement of the house they had taken over. In the center of the room, the Judge and Akumi were both floating just off the ground, facing opposite walls with their backs tight to each other, suspended in mid-air by large neon green rings of energy around their stomachs that pinned their arms to their sides. Both of the prisoners were unconscious, their heads limply bowed forwards. The woman in red, she said her name was Illyria, was standing at an angle from the Judge and facing Buffy. Even though her arms were at her sides, while she didn't really look angry, Illyria did look as if she was ready to attack anyone in the room at a moment's notice. Buffy, also in the center of the room, stood with her arms crossed, looking back and forth between her friends and the new arrivals. Kennedy was sitting on a cot off to a far wall, clutching her stomach and trying to not to stay doubled over. Willow was pacing the area between Kennedy's cot and the center of the room.

"So, Illyria, let me see if I have this straight." Buffy spoke as Illyria barely shifted her position to glance at her. "You say that these two are powered by some ancient elder god thingy --"

"-- They have been corrupted by the essence of Golnyaraechohbog --" Illyria started to respond matter-of-factly.

"-- Right. Gol. We got that much," Buffy interjected as she glanced over to Willow, who had finally stopped pacing and sat down next to Kennedy. As Buffy understood it, apparently when the Japanese girl teleported away with Kennedy, it was a pretty nasty experience. Like 'eating a huge meal and going on a lifetime's worth of roller-coasters, but all at once' she heard her say. Buffy was aware of Willow's concern for Kennedy, but she needed her friend's expertise on all matters tall, dark and scary. "But how this thing got in touch with Neo over here is what I don't --"

"-- This one, who calls itself the Judge, is saturated with the energy of the Fallen One. How this has happened, I do not know, as Golnyaraechohbog disappeared during my time." There she went with that 'I'm older than dirt' thing again. Buffy didn't catch all of Illyria's initial explanation to Willow as to what she was, but the important thing was that she said she knew Angel, and she helped them defeat the Judge. Well, at least that's what it seemed like, anyway. She kept trying to rationalize the situation while she was waiting for Willow to say …something… about any of their new friends. And finally, as if she read Buffy's mind, Willow decided to join in on the conversation.

"I've never heard of any ancient beings that just up and went 'poof' like you say, but it's not like the records from waaay back then -if you're as old as you say you are- are that reliable anyway." Willow looked over to Illyria as she stood up from the cot. There was something odd there, as Buffy noticed that Illyria would occasionally tilt her head with an almost curious expression when she looked at Kennedy or Willow. "Do you think the Judge is like you, Illyria?"

"No. The human aspect of this one still seems to be in control. I do not believe Golnyaraechohbog even knows of this corner of the universe, as we would surely know if it did. The Fallen One was… destructive in it's time. It is the essence of the Fallen One that powers the human, and his companion. The essence is what I was first able to detect, and what drew me here. I am curious as to how this human was able to come into contact with such power." Illyria began to circle the captives as she spoke, glaring at them the entire time. "I am impressed; your holding magic is quite strong, though it is unnecessary. I have blocked them from the source of their power, they are harmless."

"It never hurts to be prepared." Buffy stated with no noticeable reaction from Illyria. "So, uh, what do we do with them now?"

"We could try and bring them to, see if we can question them?" Willow didn't even sound too sure of her own suggestion.

"You heard the psycho earlier, they killed the one cultist before we even got there, and they were ready to kill the other." Kennedy finally added.

Buffy didn't like their options. "It does seem a little risky, and this guy was able to hold off two Slayers without a lot of effort. We still don't know what he's fully capable of."

"Maybe we could try and talk to the girl? Might be some sort, y'know, bad influence from --" Willow stopped mid-sentence as Xander slowly walked into the room, still recovering from his bruises gained during the encounter with the Judge.

"So what's Team Slayer learned about our new arrivals?" Xander headed straight towards the Judge.

"Not much that can be easily explained." Buffy replied with a sigh.

"I see. Y'know, I've always wondered what the deal is with black trenchcoats," Xander thought aloud as he reached for the Judge's sunglasses. "And sunglasses too!" Xander exclaimed as he pulled the sunglasses from the Judge's face to take a closer look at them. "Stylin' though. Wonder how much a pair of these babies costs?"

"Uh, Xander, you might wanna --" Willow warned as she walked towards the Judge, Kennedy following behind her, to take a closer look at his newly unveiled face.

"What's that?" Xander glanced over to Willow and finally noticed that she was staring at the Judge's face with an expression of horror. Xander then peered towards the Judge to see what the commotion was about, and quickly recoiled back in disgust. "Oh. Oh my. That's just not right." Xander stammered as he tried his best to put the sunglasses back on the Judge's face without looking.

"What's wrong with his eyes?" Buffy asked as she leaned in a closer to the source of the problem.

"He can't be human anymore, that's for sure." Willow answered as Buffy turned away from the Judge, cursing her curiosity under her breathe.

"H-how can he even see?!" Kennedy stammered, unable to look away from the Judge's eyes.

"You missed the Harbingers from a while back; looked like they had their eyes melted shut." Willow took the opportunity to shift her focus to Kennedy, who was still awestruck at their discovery. "Trust me, I wish I could forget it. Didn't seem to stop them from being incredibly annoying little minions either. I'm sure there's some metaphor that would apply, and Giles would have said it already, but, yeah. It's the little things that add to those 'Ick' moments."

"So, moving along then, what do we do now?" Xander was still having difficulty looking anywhere near the Judge.

"Let's separate them, then try and talk to the girl. She at least seems human. Mostly." The confidence was slowly coming back to Buffy's voice. "Will, reinforce the holding spells, and we'll keep a full guard of Slayers for each of them. I want this to go as smoothly as possi -- "

"-- I don't know what you've done to me," the Judge cut her off, even though he was clearly straining to speak, "but it won't last."

"Your strength is impressive for a human." Illyria said to the Judge with the barest hint of a smile. "I am curious. You should be completely cut off from Golnyaraechohbog's essence, though I did not expect your initial reaction to being drained of its power.

If Buffy's current inability to follow just what this Illyria was trying to say bothered her, it was incredibly hard to tell, but most of the time Illyria simply glared through the Judge and the girl. Learning what really old god-types were up to was all well and good for some people, but Buffy was concerned with the present. "So, Mister 'Judge,' why_ are_ you here?"

As the Judge shifted his neck to face Buffy, she could swear his sunglasses twitched a little to rest properly on his face, but it had been a long day, and she couldn't be sure. The Judge did wait until the sunglasses moved a definite second time to start talking though. "It was an accident, to be honest, Akumi teleported us here by mistake."

"Akumi is your female friend?" Willow asked.

"Yes." The Judge replied, and it looked like he was trying to not grit his teeth. "She's not as strong as I am, but she had _better_ wake up soon."

"You hardly seem to be in a position to make threats there, big guy." Buffy was getting annoyed with the arrogance of their captive.

"Heh. Most of you are good people," the Judge began, seemingly ignoring Buffy, "the woman in red is another story, and the bleached blonde in the coat, wherever he is… why you ever let him stay here --"

"-- What?! How do you --" Buffy quickly thought back to the reports she was given, and even though she did just skim them, she was pretty sure they didn't say anything about the Judge having intel on _them_.

"-- I can read surface thoughts," the Judge replied and then turned again to face Illyria. "But with her, I don't get anything. Hell, I can't even get _in_ to get anything. Never had that happen before."

He's a telepath! Not good! Sooo not good! Illyria spoke up before Buffy was able to comment on the disturbing revelation. "Hmph. You human mind cannot possibly grasp my true greatness."

The Judge still had that same annoying grin. "Under different circumstances I'd be more than happy to test that. Wouldn't be a fair fight right now, though."

As far as Buffy could tell, Illyria didn't react any differently to the Judge's taunting. "You killed a man earlier, and we can't just let you get away with that."

The Judge laughed! "Buffy, right? Whether or not you believe me, I really don't care. That… thing wasn't the first, and it won't be the last one I've dealt with. But I'm going to be honest with you. It's in your best interests to either send us back to where we came from, or let us return on our own power. We have unfinished business there."

Buffy couldn't believe the guy! "Agh! Look Mr. Weak-as-a-kitten-and-bound-by-powerful-ma -- " and then as if the Judge was waiting for the ideal moment, in time with a flash of the white energy from his eyes, the green energy ring pinning his arms to his chest just shattered. The Judge, still floating in midair, then crossed his arms below his ribs and looked towards Buffy, as the white energy from his eyes surged past the top of his head.

"You were saying?" The Judge asked with a blatant hint of malice.


End file.
